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<H2 ALIGN="CENTER">An Update On Adopting In China</H2>
<P>&copy; by <A HREF="mailto:dnrobo@aol.com">David Robinson</A></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">On May 29 1998 Bonnie Wong, consultant with
Tribo Services, Doug Chalk, Director of Sunrise Adoption Agency, and I met with
senior officials of the China Centre of Adoption Affairs (&#147;CCAC&#148;).
The discussion was illuminating and I highlight extracts of this discussion.
Initially we spoke with the Deputy Director of the Document Review Department,
Ms Chu, and Mr Liu from the Liason and Service Department, and later were
joined by the Director- General of CCAC, Mr Guo.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">CCAC is the only Government authorised Agency
for adoption in China and apparently can only communicate with Governments or
their authorised agencies. CCAC have set up adoption Programs with 12 countries
so far, of which Canada and the USA are the principal benefactors. Other
countries include England, Ireland, Holland and various Scandinavian
countries.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Mr Guo told us of his recent visit to Canada
when he met with officials from the Quebec Government, NAD, officials from 4
provinces (including B.C.), and the Deputy Prime Minister. The trip was made in
order to continue China&#146;s co-operation with Canada regarding the adoption
Program, which had been smooth and pleasant over the last few years. Mr Guo was
clearly impressed by what he had seen and heard.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">CCAC is standardising and streamlining its
procedures, and is seeking to reduce the number of those it will deal with
directly. In Canada all applications, queries and proposals MUST now go through
the NAD (National Adoption Desk) with the exception of existing agencies in
Quebec which may communicate directly with CCAC (the justification for this
disparity is that there are only a few agencies in Quebec and CCAC have been
dealing with them for some time). Thus, if any family has any question or
concern, this will have to be routed through the NAD.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">In the USA, CCAC presently deals with over 100
agencies, but intends reducing those it will deal with directly to about 25.
While I appreciate the reasons for this proposal, I find it hard to believe
that CCAC will achieve this object; it can anticipate fierce resistance from
the agencies concerned.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Most reassuring was Mr Guo&#146;s optimism for
the future of the Programs. He stated that: &#147;<I>We believe that the China
Adoption Program will be open and continue in the future</I>.&#148;</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">We tried to get an idea of adoptions world-wide
from China, and increases in adoptions in recent years, but surprisingly this
information was not available. All we were told was that there were several
thousand adoptions a year and there had been no increase in the number of
adoptions in the last 2 years.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">The possibility of Agencies giving the final
approval letter for an adoption is not acceptable to CCAC, as they hold rigidly
to a Chinese law that states an approval can only be given by a
Government.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Mr Guo made it very clear that NOONE outside
China, including agencies, has any authorisation from CCAC or other body in
China, to do Chinese adoptions. So if anyone suggests to the contrary, please
challenge the representation, ask for proof and if necessary report it to the
Ministry in Victoria. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">For those who may like to adopt a boy, there
was some positive information. Basically Ms Chu said that families were<I>
&#147;welcome to adopt boys</I>.&#148; She was surprised why families from
Canada and USA in particular only asked for healthy girls. She could not give
statistics on the boys adopted so far but indicated they were mostly older boys
of 5/6 years of age who had correctable problems.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Adoptive families may apply for a child from a
particular area or orphanage. This will be of interest to those adopting a
second time and those who may have family or contacts in a particular part of
China. CCAC will do their best to accommodate such requests subject to
availability of suitable children.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">While we did not have the opportunity to speak
with the person in charge of matching, Mr Liu was able to provide an overview.
CCAC look at the age and financial situation of a family to see if they have
the ability and resources to bring up a child, whether they have existing
children, whether their birthdays match any prospective children from the
orphanage and look at the families photos to find a resemblance between members
or a member of the family and the child. When I showed them photos of our
family, and the group of parents and their adopted children with whom we had
travelled back from China in 1996, they were struck by the likeness of my wife
as a baby and our first adopted child. The moral of this is that some families
may like to consider sending photos of themselves as babies!</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Lastly CCAC is setting up its own website
although no indication was given as when this may be up and running. In
addition CCAC is planning to be more computerised. There was even a suggestion
that there may ultimately be computer matching but that I think may be pie in
the sky .</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Overall, I was most impressed by our reception
by CCAA and hope this dialogue can be continued by other FCC members visiting
Beijing. &#144;</FONT></P>
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<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-2"><B>Last Updated: January 5th, 1999 </B></FONT> 
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